"It will be a difficult negotiation but we will face it with great determination, the new CAP must be at the service of the first sector, ensuring development for Italian farms". The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies Gian Marco Centinaio comments on the beginning of the debate on the new 2021-2027 Common Agricultural Policy, which will start in the Council next Monday in Luxembourg.
“The first commitment - continues Centinaio - will be that relating to financial availability; the proposals for cuts on both pillars contained in the proposed financial framework (MFF) worry us and see us against; it is necessary to preserve the agricultural budget assigned to the CAP as much as possible and on this we will team up with those countries willing to "keep track" of resources. Rather than increasing the contribution of the Member States to meet the new EU priorities, I think it is appropriate to recover savings within those items of the Community budget that have proved to be of little use to the needs of European citizens. I appreciate the new "freedom of maneuver" granted to Member States to better define the objectives according to the needs of the territory, bearing in mind that they will have to be managed in a simple way; the non-negotiable condition will be that of being able to eliminate a large part of the bureaucratic burden that is suffocating our farms.
It is my intention - concludes the Minister Centinaio - to make alliances for this long negotiation with the countries that share a production model similar to ours and have our own needs; a model that has so far been too often penalized by Brussels and which, on the contrary, is my intention to protect, like the income of Italian farmers ".